As a point of departure, face-to-face teaching is seen as a better offer for the students than fully online classes, which is the reasoning behind the choice of hybrid teaching/”attendance roll” as the best available alternative due to Covid-19 restrictions on face-to-face teaching.
However, we are fully aware that hybrid teaching/”attendance roll” to some extent is an untested concept which undoubtedly has built-in technical and educational challenges, just as teachers’ and students’ preferences may vary from course to course.
This page contains a collection of descriptions of teaching and learning activities which can profitably be applied within a hybrid teaching setup. As a rule, the group activities should be carried out with an equitable distribution between the physically present students and online students in the groups.
Contact your faculty if you have any doubts as to how you can plan or carry out your teaching.
Suggestions for teaching and learning activities
Hybrid lectures can be conducted in several ways. The primary focus is to continuously create a connection between the physically present students and those who are present online. Traditional lecturing presents a number of challenges and limitations in hybrid form. However, these can be met by using one of the two models described here:
- As a teacher, you can consider the class as a fully online class. That means that both you and the physically present students are online in a Zoom meeting room, and the lecture itself along with group/pair activities, questions from the room, polls and other teaching activities are held online.
- Using a Wall-e, a pc webcam or a tripod webcam set up with a pc and a wireless microphone, lectures are conducted as if all students were physically present in the room. However, it is important for lectures which are conducted this way that you as a teacher are aware of the students who are not present in the room.
This can be done in part by using the method ”Pausing in lecture” (as described below), and in part by doing the following:
- From time to time during the lecture try to talk directly to the students online - look and talk to the camera on your computer or Wall-E.
- Be aware of the limited view from the camera if you are using a white-/blackboard regarding both light and space.
- Ask one or two of the physically present students to log into Zoom and keep an eye on any chat questions or raised hands.
- For questions from physically present students, it is important that these can also be heard by the online students. The following advice can be applied depending on the physical locality:
- Move within proximity of the relevant student (approx. 2 meters) for your wireless microphone to pick up the sound from the student.
- Repeat the student’s question, so online students can hear it.
- Ask one of the students to say the question in the zoom meeting using their own microphone, or to write the question in the chat.
Articulate to all students, both those who are physically present and those participating online, that the teaching is hybrid, as well as your considerations concerning the online students’ role.
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Engage / Check understanding
Break up your synchronous presentation by stopping for a quick activity, such as responding to a question in chat, completing a sentence, or completing another task like polling, etc.
Polling activity can be used to ask a factual question with multiple options or students can also present their agreement/
disagreement with the given statements. Post-poll discussions can stimulate students to discuss areas of study in-depth.
Use the polling feature in Zoom or Poll Everywhere to ask questions and show responses in real-time. After-poll discussion can be carried out in the live video session.
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It is recommended that practice classes and examination hours is conducted as online sessions using Zoom. That mean that all participants (instructors and students) should use headsets when asking or answering questions.
See more about this activity under Synchronous activities.
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Encourage active engagement
Use online Breakout meeting rooms to simulate small group discussions. Students may also use collaborative tools (Zoom Whiteboard; 365 doc) to record thoughts.
Give group assignments and workshop formats for small teams to hold online brainstorm meetings and create things together using collaboration tools (e.g. Zoom White board, Padlet, etc.) between live sessions.
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Engage students
Fishbowl is a strategy for organizing small group discussions. Half of the students are assigned to the inner circle and the other half are assigned to the outer circle. First, students placed in the inner circle or in the ‘fishbowl’ have a discussion, and the students in the outer circle listen to the discussion and take notes. The roles are then switched.
Both the groups can be prompted to think and make notes using some questions, such as:
- Two things that were new learning points for you.
- One idea that you disagree with. Why?
- One idea that you strongly agree with. Why?
Students can take turns role playing/miming a solution and others can watch and respond in chat or live discussion. Encourage students to turn off webcams so focus can be on the student miming.
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Encourage active engagement
Use the chat feature in Zoom. Ask a question and let the students reply with a brief response. Read them out loud to the whole class. Could also use Breakout rooms with a reporter to share or Open-ended questions with Poll Everywhere.
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Engage students
Create a set of class notes with blanks for important information and share it on Blackboard or share a O365 document. Encourage students to fill in the blanks during the class session. Microsoft Forms can also be used for this activity.
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Engage students
Gallery walk is a way to engage students in displaying their artifacts to their peers and the teacher, for feedback and improvement. Self-reflection can also be prompted post this activity.
Use shared spaces (breakout rooms in Zoom) for small groups to record ideas using collaborative tools such as Zoom whiteboards, Padlet and Office 365 documents/slides/whiteboard, and then view those with the whole class.
Peer/teacher feedback can be sought right after the presentation using checklists or rubrics in Peergrade or Polleverywhere. Self-reflection can be sought through critiquing their own work by stating one way that they would have improved their work provided more time, resources, etc.
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Monitor/assess understanding
Pose a question or two in a Discussion Forum on Blackboard and have students respond for 5-10 minutes.
Students may share a selection of responses or summary of their responses with the whole class.
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Monitor/assess understanding
Individually students take a few minutes to write down the areas that they find most confusing or difficult. Peers / faculty provide explanations to clarify the concept.
Encourage students to identify any unclear or “muddy points”. Muddiest points can be added in the chat or on a shared screen or Padlet.
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Reflect on learning
Students identify their position on a specific statement (strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree).
Students have 4 colored cards. These are held up to the webcam when asked a question to display their answer. Virtual backgrounds in different colors, or a Zoom or Poll Everywhere poll, could also be used.
Students can be randomly picked or volunteer to justify their answers through the learning materials (reading provided, or prior experience or video watched).
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Reflect on learning
On a PowerPoint slide, put a list of ideas, terms, equation, or rationale. Students can identify the missing pieces in the given ideas/equation/glossary.
On Zoom use slides, present a list of ideas, terms, equation, or rationale. Students can respond with what is missing using chat, poll, live discussion or annotation.
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Reflect on learning
Students identify one or two “ahas” (ideas that were new to them) and one “huh?” (idea that is still confusing for them).
In real time students post an “aha” and “huh?” in the Zoom chat, on a Padlet or in a Q&A Poll Everywhere poll. The teacher uses these to guide discussion or future instruction.
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Strengthen understanding
Pro/cons list is a strategy used to elicit arguments in favour or against a certain statemen.
Together create a pro/con list using a collaborative tool such as Zoom annotations, Zoom whiteboards, Office 365 documents/slides/whiteboard or a Padlet.
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Strengthen understanding
Use Zoom Whiteboard or a Padlet to have students work collaboratively in real-time to add to the concept map.
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Strengthen understanding
Offer a visual prompt for students to respond. This can be done by sharing an image with accompanying question. Students write their reflection on the visual prompt or respond by using chat or other writeable response options.
Use a collaborative tool such as Zoom annotations, Zoom whiteboards, Office 365 documents/slides/whiteboard, a Padlet or just a simple image showed in your PowerPoint slideshow with the students responding using the Zoom chat or a Poll Everywhere poll.
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Strengthen understanding
Entry and exit tickets are questions that are given to the students around a concept to check the understanding of the students before or after the session.
At the beginning or end of a class, students respond to a question in the Zoom chat, on a Blackboard discussion board or by using polls in Zoom or Poll Everywhere.
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Active engagement/ planning for future learning/ connections
Use the chat feature in Zoom or collaborative writing spaces such as Zoom annotations, Zoom whiteboards, Office 365 documents/slides/whiteboard, a Padlet or a Poll Everywhere open-ended or Q/A poll to brainstorm ideas and review in class.
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Active Engagement
Students complete a 3-question quiz worth 3 points in the first 5 minutes of class. Questions for the quiz are given in the last 5 minutes of the previous class. Answers can be posted in Zoom by using the chat or a poll, or by using a quiz tool like Microsoft Office 365 Forms or Poll Everywhere.
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Providing/getting feedback on work in progress
Have students share drafts, either on a Blackboard blog or by using Office 365 shareable documents, prior to class and then break into groups for discussion/feedback using breakout rooms in Zoom.
Have selected students share their drafts with the class in real time and provide a way for students to give feedback using either the Zoom chat or a Poll Everywhere open ended poll.
Peergrade provides an online platform for sharing students’ work for peer review supported by a criteria-based rubric.